Sidney Czira

Sidney Czira, born Sidney Gifford in Rathmines in 1889, was the youngest of twelve children raised Protestant in a household shadowed by famine loss and artistic lineage. She wrote as John Brennan for Sinn Féin and Bean na hÉireann, joining Inghinidhe na hÉireann beside sisters who married into revolution, while also helping serve dinners to starving schoolchildren in St Audoen's Church. A music teacher's careless gift of The Leader unlocked her political life, turning private reading into public warfare against poverty and silence.